This Is Your Obama Recovery, Part MMMLCIX
By Mitch Berg
The dip in unemployment…wasn’t.
Jobless rates dropped in only eight states in July from the previous month and rose in 28, the Labor Department said on Monday, as employment gains sputtered.
The slight improvement in employment last month came after jobless rates fell in only 11 states in June from May.
From July 2012, unemployment rates decreased in 36 states and the District of Columbia and increased in nine, the department said.
And in many of the states where unemployment “dropped”, it happened because the number of people in the workforce shrank.
And it’s getting worse, as employers increasingly ditch full-time employees for part-timers. Forever21 is the first company to explicitly do away with full-time non-management employees in their stores, but they won’t be the last:
Although the ethical nature of Forever 21’s decision is debatable, it is both rational and understandable. A company that boasts regularly low prices and frequent, sensational sales, Forever 21’s competitive success is largely dependent upon its ability to maintain low manufacturing and operational costs. The ACA is an undeniable burden on this principle, and Forever 21’s management has the prerogative to take any legal measures necessary to avoid raising the costs of its products.
It is a decision that will pose moderate public-relations consequences for the company and it is an unfortunate result for its employees, but it is a pragmatic choice for any profit-driven company to make. Forever 21 will subsequently be just one of many others to take such an action if the ACA isn’t revised or repealed.
August 20th, 2013 at 2:32 pm
I doubt if the institution of the 30-hour work-week is an unintended consequence of Obamacare. Actually, I wonder if it is one of the intended results of the oltherwise unworkable, burdensome, expensive program.
That is, the 25% shorter work-week is basically preemptive taxation. Rather than taking an additional 25% in taxes from workers after it is earned, Obamacare is “taking” it before it is being earned, and then redistributing it in the form of new job creation; for every three 40-hour jobs that are reduced, a new 30-hour job is created.
Over time, if everyone is making 25% less than was customary, our ostentatious, conspicious consumption-laden capitalist economy will be reined-in and we can all live happily in our 1.5 bedroom flat near the train station and rely on dear leader to heal us when we are sick (enough). Truly a worker’s paradise …
August 20th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
Hawaii has a something a little like Obamacare. Employers have a mandate to provide healthcare for all full-timers (28 hrs/wk) ata nominal cost. The same problem exists here.
Obama was born and raised in Hawaii, he must have known that this would happen.
I guess it wasn’t an issue for the families who could afford to send their kids to Punahou Academy.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:07 am
Joe: That is brilliant.
August 21st, 2013 at 4:50 am
Since it is summer and the dictator in chief’s corrupt cabal of minions constantly lie and twist numbers to fit their meme, I would venture to guess that all of the states that showed increases in employment, included all of the short term workers for county and state fairs. Watch our clueless Governor tout the 2,600 jobs that were created in August for ours and the low information voters will rejoice. Funny though; every year the people responsible for staffing the fair, have trouble getting people to commit to the full 12 day run. Of course, with many colleges beginning their academic years either this week or next, it makes sense, but what about making all of those welfare recipients earn their pay for those 12 days? Wait…I went away for a little while, but I’m back now! What was I thinking with that?
August 21st, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Thank you for the kind words, TFS …